2024-05-08 14:14:23 ¶ ●

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Can you please write a meta about that scene in Digestivo where Alana asks Hannibal "could I have ever understood You?" And Hannibal says "No" coldly. I didn't understand that scene properly.

That is his philosophy, right? Hannibal doesn’t cater to the concept of right or wrong. Morality is subjective, non-violence isn’t universal. It’s a choice. His entire spiel is that he doesn’t kill because he is evil; he kills because it is possible and he wants to. And so he doesn’t feel any guilt over killing, only joy and exhilaration. So to speak, this is his nature. It is his nature to slay humans and eat them or do whatever he wants with them and there is no “god” weighing over his shoulder and judging him — in fact, killing indiscriminately is an “act of god” and “are we not made in his image?” He is very… Anti-religious. He likes talking about god philosophically, but he rejects all religious teachings regarding good and evil.

He only really reveals the workings of his mind to Will in s2b. Will, in turn, accepts Hannibal’s (self-centered) practicality. Although isn’t ‘good and evil’ also self-centered? Will says he forgives Hannibal in s3 in the catacombs. He accepts Hannibal, and more worryingly, he is drawn to Hannibal because of Hannibal’s beliefs.

Contrast that with Alana, who, while being able to understand Hannibal’s philosophies, is unable to accept or digest them. She is unable to accept him or forgive him. When she asks him, “Could I have ever understood you?” It is helpless. She is simultaneously expressing how much she didn’t truly know him, and how it is impossible for her to justify his actions. There is no way she can make sense of his violence. There is no excuse she could accept, and they both know it.